Hurricane Sandy casts doubt over October employment report

The U.S. Department of Labor on Monday said it is doing everything it can to
ensure that the latest unemployment figures are released on Friday as scheduled.

The approach of Hurricane Sandy has brought much of the activity along the
East Coast, including the federal government, to a halt. But
officials at the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said they are trying to
ensure that the October job report, the final one before the presidential election,
comes out on time.

"The employees at the Bureau of Labor Statistics are working hard to
ensure the timely release of employment data on Friday, November 2. It is
our intention that Friday will be business as usual regarding the October
Employment Situation Report," the department said in a statement Monday.

It remains an open question whether BLS would be able to produce the highly
anticipated report amid the hurricane. The BLS said it was closely watching the storm and
would announce any change of plan before the scheduled Friday release.

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A key challenge facing BLS analysts is that the job numbers, which are vital
to financial markets as well as political campaigns, are kept under tight
security and must be dealt with onsite.

Normally, federal employees can handle much of their work remotely, but BLS officials
must be able to get into offices to process the employment data.

"This type of stuff we don't do from home," said Cheryl Abbot, a
regional economist for the Dallas BLS branch. "They've got to be in one
particular room that's basically roped off."

Friday's report would be the last update on the nation's unemployment rate
before voters head to the polls on Election Day.

With the economy taking center stage in an extremely close presidential
race, the release of the final jobs report has been seen as a wild-card in the
days before the election, potentially giving a boost to the campaign of either
President Obama or Mitt Romney.

Earlier in October, BLS reported that the nation's unemployment rate had
fallen to 7.8 percent, falling below 8 for the first time since Obama took
office. The economy added 114,000 jobs in September.